Air Warrior

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Air Warrior was the world's first multiplayer on-line air-combat simulator (at least for civilians). A player is able to fly a simulated World War II aircraft, fighting with and against other players, each flying his own simulated aircraft. It was introduced in 1987 by Kelton Flinn and his company Kesmai. At this time the internet was not generally available outside the worlds of government and academia. Kesmai therefore used the online service GEnie for the game's networked communication.

Air Warrior originally ran on Apple Macintosh, Commodore Amiga, and Atari ST computers, had simple black and white wireframe graphics, and cost over $10/hour to play. Over time, Kesmai produced improved versions of the game, starting with SVGA Air Warrior in 1993, and continuing with Air Warrior for Windows in 1996, Air Warrior II in early 1997, Air Warrior III later in 1997, and finally Air Warrior III Millennium Version in 2000.

Kesmai also did business deals to provide access to Air Warrior through additional on-line services, including Delphi, CRIS, CompuServe, America Online, Earthlink, and Gamestorm. A version of Air Warrior for Windows was ported back to the Macintosh in 1997 in an Internet open beta, and then later moved to America Online. In 1999, Electronic Arts purchased Air Warrior, and became provider of the latest version the game, only to discontinue it in 2001. The last version was Air Warrior III Millennium Version, and the last day of on-line flying was December 7th, 2001, the sixtieth anniversary of the attack at Pearl Harbor.

Air Warrior was the forerunner of a genre. Two of the most popular multiplayer air-combat simulators of 2005 - Aces High and WarBirds - have an even stronger link to Air Warrior. Many of the main developers for these two are former Air Warrior pilots and former members of the Air Warrior community. In particular, Dale "HiTech" Addink and Doug "Pyro" Balmos were lead software developer and project manager, respectively, for the original version of WarBirds. They then went on to found HiTech Creations, producer of Aces High.

[edit] Air Warrior III

Besides many small playing fields, Air Warrior III had as one playing area a map of northern Europe with some real-life features labeled, although Berlin, the Kiel Canal, and Peenemunde were left unmarked.. There was also a playing area map that included a hodgepodge of Pacific islands and the coast of Australia. The player could design his own missions on any of these playing fields. Fans of the on-line competition developed a tool that enabled the player to paint his or her own aircraft. Screenshots could be taken in combat, and even videos, which could be distributed over the internet. Douglas C-47s could be used to carry paratroops to take enemy air bases. These could be shot down by flak panzers as well as fighters.

There were many ships and a few buildings to attack, even V-2s at Peenemunde, a bridge near Westminster's Parliament House, and the Brandenburg Gate of Berlin. However, targets that were destroyed soon re-appeared. Besides aircraft, the player could control a jeep, a tank, a truck, or a flak panzer, although the player could not drive through the fence surrounding the airfield unless a tank destroyed it at a given spot. The aircraft carriers and other ships were fixed in place. The game was notorious for its sheep and for the cartoons which appear on the screen to mock the player when he died.

Air Warrior II Box

Air Warrior III Box

Air Warrior III

Air Warrior III

[edit] References

• Anderson, Brooke P. (1997).How to Fly and Fight in Air Warrior, Appendix: History of Air Warrior.
• Air Warrior II at MobyGames
• Brooks, M. Evan (2001). [1], dates of release for some versions of Air Warrior.
• Book of MacDweeb, 1999. [2], satirical history of Air Warrior for Macintosh in the spirit of the Wingless Cafe.

[edit] Links

Air Warrior Online: A forum for former AW players to reminisce and meet old friends and foes.